10/14/14
16:45 - called Tire Rack per Road Hazard instructions. Got passed around a bit while until they figured out I had Continentals and was then transferred to them. Road Hazard replacement was explained and was instructed to buy a new tire, have it installed, verify tread depth and no bead damage and then contact them again for RMA and shipping label.
17:05 - Ordered new tire from tirerack.com
18:13 - notification from tirerack.com of tire shipment. (wow! just over an hour!)
22:02 - notification from UPS of scheduled delivery for 10/15/14 between 1PM and 5PM
10/15/14
Early AM - checked UPS tracking. Tire leaves Maryland facility at 12:26 AM and delivered to local UPS facility here at 4:40 AM. On the truck for delivery at 6:27 AM.
~16:00 - arrived home from work and dropped my stuff in the house. UPS truck pulls up. I open my trunk and load the tire into it after the UPS guy hands me the tire. Tire has not touched the ground! I drive to the tire shop and drop off the damaged tire and new tire and ask them to please be careful removing the tire as a damaged bead will void the road hazard. Manager assures me that they will be careful. He likes my car and asks me what it is. (No Suzuki badges on the back. Just the Kizashi badge)
16:30 - Arrive back home, change clothes, jack the car up and remove the space saver spare. Just as I finish, the tire shop calls and tells me it's ready.
17:00 - Take my wife's van to the shop to pick up the tires. Drive home.
17:15 - Install the new tire and check the pressure. A few pounds low, but they didn't have the car to check the door sticker. Added air and checked the rest. The doughnut only had 22 lbs in it. YIKES! It's supposed to have 60! Filled the doughnut up and put back in the trunk. Cleaned up. Notice that I left the cap off the valve on the spare that's already stowed away. Tossed the cap into the center console.
17:30 - send email to tirerack.com letting them know the tire was replaced and the tread depth was 10/32 and that there was no bead damange.
17:40 - tirerack.com responds with RMA number and FedEX label. I print out the label and put it in my car, otherwise I know I'll forget it. Decided to put the valve cap back on the spare so I did what was necessary.
17:45 - smile a big smile for how well this has all gone. One step left...
10/16/14
Today after work I plan on dropping off the tire at FedEX to be shipped back to tirerack.com. They state 3-5 business days after they receive it that credit will be given provide the tire is covered under the road hazard policy.
I'll let everyone one know what happens. But so far it's pretty much gone as smoothly as it could have.
Also, there are a few dollars involved. Shipping from Tire Rack (about $15), mounting and balancing from Merchant's. ($13.99 plus tax) and $7 that Tire Rack charges for FedEX return shipping. Not bad for a new tire.
***EDIT***
10/20/14 Received an email notification that my account was being credited at 3:45 PM. At 9:45 PM I got an email notification from Paypal that the account had been credited... Minus the $15.88 shipping and a $9.00 fee for return shipping.
All in all, a pretty good experience. There wasn't a single thing that would have led me to believe that I wasn't going to get my tire replaced and the money I had to front refunded.
